Drunk Elephant Night Serum – My New Holy Grail

So as you may know due to some of my previous posts, my skin has been the bane of my existence since I was about 14. This past winter my skin care routine combined with a decrease in dairy consumption (confused? see my Dairy & Acne blog post here) lead to a drastic improvement in my skin. I was over the moon. But also apparently living under a rock. LITTLE DID I KNOW, I was missing something. And that something happened to be Drunk Elephant’s TLC Framboos Glycolic Night Serum.

I was at work one day and a woman around my age walked in and I swear to God I have never seen skin as flawless and glowy as hers. It was AMAZING. So because I’m all about making women feel fabulous about themselves I told her that she looked incredible and that’s when she told me about her recent addition to her skincare routine. I have never been more sure that hyping my fellow women up is a good idea. Good Karma man, this girl hooked me up with the inside scoop.

That day I went home and told my boyfriend about it… along with the ridiculous price tag expecting him to talk me out of it. This man turns around and tells me to buy it. Ok. Don’t have to tell me twice. $112 (CAN) later I was the proud owner of a Drunk Elephant Night Serum. No regrats.

I received it in the mail a few days later and was so eager to try it. I needed to be that glowing woman.

First Impression

I couldn’t figure out how to open the damn bottle (pro-tip: read the label… duh). Upon figuring that out and applying it to my freshly cleansed face, I thought it felt a bit tacky. Nonetheless, I popped my moisturizer over the top of it and went to bed.

I woke up the next day and honestly did not see a difference. Disappointing

The next night I put it on again. Cleanse. Serum. Moisturizer. Woke up and saw a bit of glow – success!

So I continued for the next few days with this same routine. That’s when I started to notice some small bumps gathering in my cheeks and around my mouth. They looked to be irritation marks which I assumed were from the serum so I did some research and took a couple of nights off of it. I actually found that it had been suggested online that those with sensitive skin (das me) might want consider only using this product once every two days due to the harsh nature of the ingredients.

Second Impression

After my little two day hiatus I decided to give it another go. This time taking a day in between uses, and also re-starting my acne cream back up alongside the serum (this is something I had cut out with the fear that they would react).

The next few days I saw a gradual improvement in my skin. I went from clear skin to clear glowy skin. I even started choosing to go to work without makeup on because I felt so great in my skin. To see how my skin looked before, check out my Skincare To Reduce Acne post.

Third Impression

Ok this is where it got a little messy – however, this could be due to a number of things so I can’t say exactly whether this was due to the serum or other external factors.

I re-broke out in a few painful zits – not as many as before, and they didn’t last as long as they did before but I thought it was all over and that I’d lost the skin battle once again. However, this all happened around the same time that I bought a car, moved house, was battling through hating my jobs – the whole lot. So, I’m not going to blame those breakouts on the serum, I’m blaming them on life because once my days settled down a little bit, so did my skin.

Fourth Impression – Final Thoughts

I’ve been using this product for a few months now and I can honestly say that my skin is doing that best it ever has (post getting acne, anyway). I got my period last week and only broke out in two very small, very easy to manage spots.

I’m currently using it every 2-3 days underneath my Murad Acne Treatment and my Cetaphil moisturizer. I’ve had so many compliments on my skin lately and I think it is due mostly to this serum as my skin wasn’t this glowy before I started using it.

I still have acne scars over my cheeks from my bad breakouts about a year ago, but I would say that they have definitely faded in the last few months since using this product. I wasn’t expecting them to disappear instantly (although that would have been nice), but I’m happy to see that they’re slowly disappearing!

Their Secret

There are two main ingredients in this product that I think are to blame (thank) for it’s success: Glycolic Acid (AHA) and Salicylic Acid (BHA). Two products that you’ve likely heard of before, right?

AHA is a powerful exfoliant working primarily on the skins surface to help bring newer and fresher skin cells to light, leading to a smoother and more glowy complexion. BHA however works not only on the surface of the skin, but it gets deep into the pores too. For this reason, and the fact that it is oil soluble, it is preferred and more ideal for those with oily skin prone to bumps and blemishes. The bonus is that it isn’t harsh on the skin, so it’s safe for those of us with sensitive skin!

Basically, AHA and BHA work to unstick all the old, dead, skin cells from the skin to allow the new and fresh cells to shine. For more info on AHA and BHA, click here.

Overall, I would recommend this product to those suffering with acne. Those who have found a skin care routine that is helping their skin, but it isn’t QUITE there just yet. I’m not sure it’s completely worth the price as it is rather expensive, but I don’t think I would be able to find another product that does the job like this one does, so I would definitely consider re purchasing when the time comes.

Until next time

xx